Plastic- you ain’t so fantastic

Ever notice how when giving recommendations to prevent sickness or remedy any ailment all beauty/ health columns include a recommendation to drink water?

Oh you have acne? Drink more water

A kidney infection? Drink more water

You want to lose weight? Drink more water

Migraine? Drink more water

Wrinkles? Drink more water

So naturally drinking more water was one of the first changes I made and now I feel headachy and grouchy if I don’t drink at least 2 liters every day. I used to buy a 2 liter bottle of Ballygowan water at the start of the week and then keep refilling it up from my kitchen tap filled, Brita jug each morning – I did this to save on the cost of buying bottled water every day and also to reduce the environmental effect which throwing out a 2 liter bottle would have.

It’s only through some late night Google-ing I learnt the following scaryness about this practice:

1. Plastic containers have codes on their base and each one refers to the type of chemicals the container has been made from.  Take the Ballygowan bottle Code ‘1 PET’, unfortunately for me it turns out PET degrades with use and can contain trace amount of Bisphenol A (BPA) which is amplified if exposed to high heat- such as being left in a car (which I’m always doing) or re-used. If you want to know more about the codes and what they mean and which ones to steer clear of I suggest a look at this
2. BPA is a synthetic chemical that has been used to make certain plastics since the 1960s, including plastics found in food and drink containers. BPA can leach into our food and drinks. In fact studies indicate that most of us already have BPA in our bodies and one study showed that 90% of Europeans have traces of BPA in our systems.  More on BPA can be found here.
3. A growing number of health experts, consumers groups and national governments (Canada recently declared BPA was a toxic chemical) are becoming concerned about the health effects that can be caused from high-dose or long-term exposure to BPA, including;

• Heart Disease
• Intestinal Damage
• Infertility and Reproductive Issues
• Erectile Dysfunction
• Diabetes
• Obesity
• Behavioural Changes in Children
• Premature puberty in children
• Neurological problems in infants
• Permanent damage to foetuses in pregnant women
• Miscarriage
• An increasing number of occurrences of breast and prostate cancer

Of course there’s also evidence to suggest that there isn’t any problem with BPA’s (read what the Irish Food and Drink Industry say in support of BPA here). However I’m going to go with my gut here and steer clear.  My take on these things is we’ve no come back if these researchers and scientists turn around in 5/10 years time and go:

‘oh yea, actuallllllly, it turns out we were wrong and BPA- it’s mad dangerous and harmful. Oopsies! Sorry about that everyone!’.

So i is going to be safe, not sorry.

That’s why I’m currently looking high and low for a 2 liter BPA free water bottle which doesn’t cost the earth. The closest I’ve come is this 1 liter bottle.

If you come across a 2 liter BPA bottle that delivers to Ireland and doesn’t cost a bomb please please let me know!